The Sculpture's Son
by writergal24
Summary: When 10-year-old Amelia visits Godric's Hollow, she is shocked to find that at the war memorial in town, she sees a sculpture of a family rather than the obelisk everyone else sees. And, while there, she meets a boy with the middle name Sirius... Oneshot


**You guys have no idea how much _fun_ I had writing this story. Seriously. It reminded me why I started writing in the first place. I was excited to finish my homework because it meant that I could write.**

**The original plans for this story were nothing like this. But I kind of like the way it turned out. I hope you feel the same way.**

**Disclaimer: If I could own either of the James Potters... But, alas, they belong to a woman much older, wiser, richer, and more British than me :) If I owned James Potter, I wouldn't be taking the PSAT tomorrow, now would I?**

**Enjoy!**

Amelia was nine when she first saw it. She had just started school and she wore her new shoes. Her best friend – of the week – was Penny. She had just started reading chapter books. Her older sister Kayla had started high school. Amelia really wanted to be in high school.

These were the important things in her life.

There was no school that Monday so her mother had decided that they should go visit Amelia's grandmother for the holiday.

But Amelia's grandmother's house was dreadfully boring. All the older women wanted to do was sit around and look at pictures. By Sunday afternoon, Amelia was bored out of her mind.

"Why don't you and Kayla go for a walk?" her mum suggested.

Kayla looked up from the corner where she was texting her friends and shrugged. "Sure." Though she didn't act like it, Kayla was just as eager to get out of there as Amelia was.

So they put on their shoes and their jackets and they set out for a walk around town, promising to be home in time for dinner.

Their grandmother lived in a town called Godric's Hollow. It was a very small town, with a cobbled main street lined with cottages. All of the families were tight-knit and friendly. People smiled at you when you walked down the street. The center of town was a little square, filled with shops and a church.

This is where Kayla and Amelia decided to walk that day. They peered into the windows of the shops and Amelia skipped along happily.

In the center of the square stood a war memorial. It was an obelisk, long and pointed, with hundreds of names engraved in it, in remembrance of all those who had died in some war. But as Amelia drew near it…

"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed.

Kayla looked at her curiously. "What?"

"The memorial! It transformed!" Amelia said, pointing at it and running closer to get a better look.

And indeed it had. It was now a sculpture of a man, a woman, and a child.

Kayla stared at her sister, then looked back at the memorial, then back to her sister. "What are you talking about, Lia? It doesn't look any different!"

"But… don't you see the people?"

"No."

Amelia frowned at looked up at the statue. "But _I _see them."

Kayla frowned. "Is this another one of your games? I thought you had outgrown those, Amelia. Come on, let's go home. It's almost time for dinner."

Amelia stared longingly at the statue as she was pulled away from the square. She couldn't help wonder who that family had been and what had happened to them…

* * *

><p>Amelia saw the statue again many times. Every time she went to visit her grandmother, she made a point of dragging someone with her to see it. None of them, however, showed any signs of seeing the memorial as anything other than an obelisk.<p>

But each time, Amelia looked at the man, and the woman, and the baby.

After a few times, she learned that there was a message engraved on the east side of the statue. It read, "A monument built to honor James and Lily Potter, and their son Harry Potter, Order of Merlin, First Class, The Boy who Lived, and the defeater of You-Know-Who. Muggles cannot see the true shape of this monument. The Potters lived in Godric's Hollow, and Harry still lives there today."

But this message left Amelia more confused than she'd been before.

* * *

><p>The summer she was eleven, Kayla got a job, so she couldn't come on a trip with them. So it was just Amelia and her mother at her grandmother's house.<p>

This was even more boring than when Kayla had been there.

Because Godric's Hollow was such a nice town, it was decided that Amelia was allowed to go for a walk by herself. She went straight to the square, straight to the memorial. And there they were: the man, the woman, and the baby.

After staring at the statue for several minutes, Amelia noticed that there was a boy standing there doing the same thing as her. He couldn't have been more than two years older than her. He had brown hair with tinges of red and this dazed sort of expression on his face._ And he was staring right at the man!_

Amelia couldn't help it. She had to know. If there was even a possibility that this boy could see the people too…

So Amelia walked straight up to the boy and said, "Hello."

The boy jumped and his hand flew to his back pocket for some unimaginable reason. He looked at Amelia and he calmed down. "Um… hi."

"I was just wondering what you thought of the memorial," Amelia said.

"It's, well, it's nice."

This was not the answer that Amelia was looking for. "Can you see the people?"

The boy's eyes widened. "Merlin, keep your voice down!" he scolded, looking around at the people around them. He dropped his voice to a proud whisper. "Of course I can see them. I'm no Squib."

A huge grin overtook Amelia's face, though she didn't understand what a 'Squib' was, nor did she understand the use of the word Merlin in that sentence. "You can? That's amazing! I almost thought I was going crazy! Nobody else could ever see them."

The boy looked confused. "Well, obviously Muggles can't…"

"Muggle?" she repeated.

Understanding finally dawned on the boy's face. "Oh. How old are you?"

"I'll be eleven in a few weeks," Amelia said, though she had no idea how that fit into their conversation.

James smiled. "You're a Muggle-born!" he exclaimed.

"A… what?"

James glanced around them one more time. "I don't think this is the best place to discuss that. Let's go someplace more private."

This didn't sound like a very good idea to Amelia. Sure, the boy was, at most, 13. And sure, Godric's Hollow seemed to be one of the nicest places in the entire world, but there was no way Amelia was going somewhere "private" with him.

"Who are you?" Amelia questioned the boy.

He grinned at her. "I'm James Potter."

Amelia raised her eyebrows at the boy and looked for some sign of humor on his face. She found none. "Be serious."

"Hey, Serious is my middle name," he said. Grinning even wider, he added, "No, my middle name is _actually _Sirius. And I am James Potter. I'm James Potter Jr., I suppose. The Lily and James Potter in the sculpture were my grandparents."

Amelia gaped at the boy. "So then… Harry Potter must be your father."

"Correct," he said, running a hand through his hair. His smile faltered when she didn't start kissing his feet. "Yet that means nothing to you." He slouched a little bit.

"Should it?" she asked.

James just laughed. "Can we _please_ go? I have something really cool to show you!" He pouted.

"I don't think that's a good idea…"

James sighed. "Fine, whatever. Wait. What's your name?"

"Amelia," she responded.

James smiled. "Well, I'll see you in September, Amelia."

And with that, the boy walked off into the crowd and disappeared.

* * *

><p>"You're a witch, Amelia."<p>

Amelia looked at her mother. Then she turned back to the man. "I'm sorry, I don't understand."

"The Wizarding World isn't just a world of fairytales. There are hundreds thousands of witches and wizards living in the country. Most witches and wizards are born into families that are made of people who are all witches and wizards, but there are definitely exceptions. _You_ are one of those exceptions," the man said. He'd introduced himself as Teddy Lupin. He looked as though he hadn't even hit his twenties yet.

"How do you know?" Amelia asked in a shaky voice.

"There is a school called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Mr. Lupin explained. "Every year, the Magical Quill in the school produces a list of all of the magical children who are to be enrolled that year. Your name was on that list."

Amelia stared at the man. She still didn't believe him.

"But… there must be some mistake," Amelia's mother said softly. "Amelia is not a witch."

Lupin looked at Amelia's mother with soft eyes. "But she is." He turned back to Amelia. "Have you ever done something that you couldn't explain? Like… moved something without touching it, or made something bad happen to someone who you were angry at?"

"Well…" Amelia said after a few minutes of considering this. "There was this one time my sister wouldn't let me go on the computer. So I was sitting in the other room, moping about it, thinking about how mad I was at her, and all of a sudden she screamed. Her hair had turned green!" And now that Amelia thought about it, there had definitely been several other inexplicable events in her life that had all occurred when she'd been angry or upset.

Teddy laughed. "Like this?" he asked, and his hair turned green.

Amelia's mother gasped sharply and they both looked at her to make sure she was okay.

"How'd you do that? Can I do that? Are you a wizard too?" Amelia demanded quickly.

"I am a wizard," Teddy told her. "But I'm a special kind of wizard, called a Metamorphmagus. That means I can change my appearance whenever I want. You won't be able to do that as easily as I can. You'll need a wand."

"A wand?" Amelia repeated.

Teddy nodded. "Next week, whenever it works for you, I'll be taking you into London to help you buy all of the supplies you need for Hogwarts." Teddy turned to Amelia's mother and added, "You're welcome to come too, Ms. Green."

Ms. Green was still extremely pale and shocked.

"Where is Hogwarts?" Amelia asked.

"Well, that's a secret."

Amelia frowned. "Why?"

"We don't want just anyone to be able to show up at the school."

"So then how will I get there?"

Teddy grinned at her apparent eagerness. "The Hogwarts Express. It's a train. It leaves from King's Cross Station on September first."

"Who said she's going?" Amelia's mother asked, finally speaking up. "How do we know that you're really a wizard? How do we know that any of this is real? Why should I send her there?"

Teddy straightened up. "I will be happy to demonstrate for you."

"Please."

Teddy pulled a stick of wood out of his back pocket. "My wand," he explained. He pointed it at the fireplace and flames erupted inside of it. Amelia's mother jumped. "And as to why you should send her to Hogwarts… well, if she doesn't get trained on how to use magic, it could eventually become too much for her to handle. And then the people around her, as well as Amelia herself, will be in a very bad situation. At Hogwarts, she will learn to control her magic.

"Plus, Hogwarts is amazing. You make so many friends and have so much fun… Amelia will love it."

Amelia's mother still didn't look convinced, but she stopped asking questions.

Meanwhile, Amelia was still deep in thought. "Mr. Lupin…"

"Call me Teddy."

"Teddy… do the… have you ever heard of the Potters?"

If Teddy had been drinking something, he would have spurted it out all over the living room at this question.

"Where did you hear of the Potters?"

Amelia's mother seemed to be thinking the same thing. They both leaned into Amelia, who started to feel a bit uncomfortable.

"My grandmother lives in Godric's Hollow. There's a monument there. When everyone else looks at it, they see a regular old monument. But when I look at it, I see a family. And it says that they are the Potters," Amelia explained quickly, deciding to leave James Sirius Potter out of the story.

A strange smile stretched on Teddy's face. "Actually, Amelia, the Potters have everything to do with this. The Potters are wizards. And Harry Potter saved our world, and the Muggle world too, from an evil wizard about 20 years ago."

"Teddy, what are Muggles?"

"That's what wizards call non-magic people."

"So Muggles can't see the sculpture?" Amelia asked.

Teddy nodded and smiled. "Exactly. They just see the obelisk because we don't want them to be suspicious of us."

Teddy looked at his watch. "Well, would you look at that? I have to get going. But, if it works for you, I will be back on Monday to take you into London."

"Oh, yes, please!" Amelia exclaimed.

They both looked to Ms. Green, who said nothing.

"Okay, then, I'll be back Monday." Looking firmly at Ms. Green, Teddy said, "Please give this some time to sink in."

And Teddy left the door with a wave and a "Good luck!"

* * *

><p>Ms. Green dropped Amelia off at King's Cross at 9:30, even though the train didn't leave until 10:00. In the car ride over, she had explained to her daughter that she wasn't upset with her. She just needed some time to adjust.<p>

Ms. Green did not escort Amelia onto Platform 9 ¾. She just kissed her daughter next to the sign for Platform 9 and left.

Teddy Lupin had told Amelia all about how to get on to Platform 9 ¾ when they'd gone to Diagon Alley. Diagon Alley was this special place in London that had all of these wizard shops. No Muggles could get in there. They had a bank called Gringotts where Amelia had exchanged some of her money for gold coins called Galleons, and silver ones called Sickles, and bronze ones called Knuts. There was a wand shop where Amelia had purchased her wand (Chestnut, 11 ½ inches with a unicorn core, and unyielding). There was a shop where you could purchase Quidditch equipment. (Quidditch was a sport, like football, only played on broomsticks.) And they had many other shops where Amelia had bought all of the things she would need for the year, plus a grey owl that Teddy told her she could use to mail letters.

To put it simply, it had been a very magical day.

Anyway, he'd told her that all she had to do was run straight through the banister between Platforms 9 and 10. She wasn't to hesitate. He promised that she wouldn't get hurt.

So, sucking up her fears, Amelia ran straight through the banister…

The Hogwarts Express was magnificent. It was scarlet red and huge. Children hung out of the windows, clutching wands, wearing robes, saying goodbye to their parents. Some of the adults wore robes too. There was a thick steam all around the Platform, which made it difficult to see the other people, but Amelia was curious, so she made a point of looking.

After changing into her Hogwarts robes and loading her bags and owl Felicity onto the train, Amelia wandered through the train to find an empty compartment. She finally found one, so she sat down and opened up the book that she'd brought to entertain herself – _Hogwarts, A History_.

Just after the train had left the station, the door to her compartment opened. "-'cause we are busy, Albus. Now get lost," a voice said. "Oops! I didn't know anyone was in…"

Amelia looked up and standing before her was none other than James Sirius Potter.

A huge smile stretched across James' face. "I knew I would see you here, Amelia! I told you!" He turned around to look at the two boys who had been following him into the compartment. One had black hair and green eyes, and the other fiery red hair and brown eyes. "Al, Fred, this is the girl I was telling you about! The one that could see Grandma Lily and Grandpa James' sculpture!"

Amelia smiled back at them. "Hi. I'm Amelia Green," she said, closing her book and standing up to greet them.

The red-headed boy shook her hand enthusiastically. "Fred Weasley," he told her.

The black-haired boy was a bit less excited. "Albus Potter," he muttered.

"This is my cousin," James said, patting Fred's back, "And my brother." He pointed to Albus. "Albus is in his first year too. Maybe you guys will be in the same house. Hey! You two should seat together! Perfect. Now… bye!" And James and Fred disappeared, leaving Albus and Amelia standing awkwardly in the doorway.

Amelia sat down and Albus followed her.

"So… you're in your first year?" Amelia finally asked.

Albus nodded.

"What are houses?" she pressed.

Albus looked up at her curiously. "You don't know about the houses?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows. When she shook her head, Albus launched into a long explanation about Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw, and each of the houses' attributes.

While he was talking about how he wanted to be in Gryffindor and eventually become the Gryffindor prefect, a short girl with bushy hair opened the door.

"_There_ you are, Albus. Where on earth did you go? I was saying goodbye to Roxanne, and I turned around and you were gone," she said in a very annoyed, stuffy voice.

Albus muttered something about following James.

The girl turned away from Albus and looked to Amelia. "I'm Rose Weasley," she said, sticking out her hand. "Albus' cousin. Are you reading _Hogwarts, A History_? I've read it a couple times. My mother said that it leaves a lot of stuff out that. Like the fact that house elves work in the kitchens." She looked at the book with disgust.

Amelia was confused. "Oh, um… nice to meet you," Amelia muttered, shaking her hand.

They sat quietly for a few moments before Albus asked, "So, Amelia, what house do you think you want to be in?"

But Amelia didn't even get to answer that she wasn't sure before Rose started on a long story about how she too wanted to be in Ravenclaw. Something about being smart and standing out from the rest of the family.

* * *

><p>In the ironic ways that things happen, Albus ended up in Slytherin, but Amelia and Rose were both sorted into Gryffindor. This meant they were in the same house as James and Fred, who Amelia quickly learned were quite the trouble-makers and very arrogant.<p>

Amelia and Rose became quite good friends actually. Rose was a bit of a know-it-all, very stubborn, and assumed that everybody would agree with her all of the time, but once you got passed that, she was pretty nice. The two were roommates and they'd gotten out of several sticky situations together… and spent quite a few detentions together.

They also became friends with Scorpius Malfoy, their fellow Gryffindor, after a few duels in the corridors. It was when Albus and Scorpius became best friends that Amelia decided to give him a chance, and Rose came along after. He was very proud and a bit controlling, but if you got to know him, he let his sensitive side shine through.

And so it was the four of them: Albus, Amelia, Rose, and Scorpius.

Amelia had hardly conversed with James throughout the year and wasn't even sure that she liked him so she was surprised that on the last day of her first year, James walked up to her with a piece of paper in his hands. "This is my address," he explained. "I don't know if your owl can find my place without it. When you visit your grandmother this summer, write me. I still have something to show you." And he smirked at her and walked away, waving goodbye.

Amelia wasn't sure if she was going to write him when her mother announced that they would be leaving for her grandmother's house. _If anything_, she decided,_ she would write Albus._

But while sitting in her grandmother's living room, Amelia decided that she actually did want to know what James had to show her. So she pulled out a piece of paper and a pen – she was still a Muggle-born and she didn't care how much James or Albus teased her for it – and she wrote,

_Potter (James, I mean),_

_I'll be at my grandmother's house for the next week. Tell me what day works for you._

_Also, please let Albus know that I am in town. I would like to get to see him, but he hasn't responded to my last letter so I figured writing to him would be pointless._

_Thanks,_

_Amelia Green_

A few hours later she received a response.

_Tomorrow at noon? Meet at the statue?_

_J.S.P._

* * *

><p>At 12:30, Amelia was still waiting at the memorial and she was regretting her decision to ever write James.<p>

He showed up at 12:40. Amelia was in a bad mood.

James wasn't.

"Come on, let's go!" he said enthusiastically.

They walked silently for a few moments.

"Do you remember when we met here last year?" he asked nostalgically.

"Yeah," Amelia said, her iciness starting to thaw. "Things were _so_ different back then. Teddy hadn't come yet to tell me I was a witch. I was still…"

"Hold on, Greenie, did you say Teddy?" James demanded.

Amelia nodded after rolling her eyes. She'd been "Green" to the boys the first few months of school, but then they'd decided that "Greenie" was more fun. She didn't really enjoy the name.

"Teddy's my brother!" he exclaimed.

Amelia stared at him wearily. "Teddy _Lupin_ is your brother, Potter?"

James smiled weakly. "Well, not by blood, obviously. But, you see, my grandfather – yeah, James Potter – and his dad were pretty much best friends when they were at Hogwarts. Well, Sirius and Pettigrew were also really good friends with them, but that doesn't matter. The point is that then Teddy's dad taught my parents at Hogwarts and Remus – that's Teddy's dad – and my dad got really close, so Remus made my dad Teddy's godfather when he was born.

"And then, well, Teddy's parents were killed only a few months later. So Teddy went to live with his grandmother. But he came to my house _all_ the time. He still comes for dinner a few nights a week. And," James dropped his voice to a whisper, "He's dating my cousin, Vicky."

"Victoire Weasley?" Amelia questioned, trying to take all of this information in.

"Yup!" James said.

"Wow," Amelia said. "He seemed… really nice."

James laughed. "Well, that's one way to put it. Teddy's a saint. Head boy and all, too. So he took you to Diagon Alley? He told me he was doing that as part of his internship at Hogwarts over the summer. Honestly, I don't understand why Teddy did an internship at Hogwarts when he wants to be an Auror…" And James just rambled on and on about career choices and Teddy and all of that stuff and they walked through the streets of Godric's Hollow.

When he paused to take a breath, Amelia interjected, "Where are we going exactly?"

"You'll see," James said, with another huge smile. "We're almost there. Just two more blocks."

The last two blocks passed by very quickly because Amelia was so eager to see whatever James wanted to show her. So when they arrived at an empty plot of land and James pointed at it dramatically, Amelia was disappointed.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Look closer," James instructed.

So she did. And then, out of the ivy and the trees emerged the ruins of a house and a sign in front of it.

Amelia felt her heart jump into her throat. "This was your grandparent's house," she choked out.

James looked at the house, suddenly more somber. "Yeah," he agreed.

"This… is where your dad survived the Killing Curse."

He nodded again, lips tight.

"This is… cool?"

Finally he smiled. "Muggles can't see this either," he pointed out.

Amelia made a face. "It's still not exactly _cool_."

"Well, technically I was going to show you the house before you knew the whole story. It wouldn't have been exactly as… emotional then, would it?"

Amelia shrugged lightly. "I guess. But now I've _met_ your dad." Albus had introduced them when they'd returned to King's Cross and Amelia had had to wait for her mother to come. The whole family had waited with her.

"Mmm," James murmured. He looked so sad. She just had to try and cheer him up.

"They… they sacrificed their lives for your dad, you know. So, really, they sacrificed their lives for you," Amelia pointed out softly.

"I wonder if they would have even liked me," James muttered darkly.

Amelia's head popped up. "What do you mean?"

"Never mind," James said, instantly regretting that it had popped out. If only he had a Time Turner and he could take it back…

"No, James…"

"I said never mind!" James exclaimed, turning away from her.

Amelia stood there shocked for a moment. She looked at the ruins. Half the house was standing, but the other was burned, collapsed, and totally ruin. It was… quite depressing to see. She couldn't imagine what it was like for Mr. Potter or James or Albus to look at it. "Of course they would have loved you," she said softly.

"And how do you know? There's nobody alive today that knew them! Not my dad… none of their friends… only my dad's creepy aunt," James shot back.

"McGonagall knew them," Amelia said, in an attempt to get the old James back, the one who laughed and made jokes… "Haven't you heard her tell stories about how he was an even bigger troublemaker than you?"

And it kind of worked. He cracked a smile. "Thanks, Amelia," he said. "I knew I could trust you."

Amelia nodded, still a bit shaken. "Yeah."

* * *

><p>Amelia stood on the doorstep of the Potters' house, shivering from the sharp cold air that had descended the past couple months. Taking a deep breath, she put her things down and rang the doorbell.<p>

Amelia was really grateful that James answered the door instead of Mrs. Potter or Mr. Potter (who had started insisting that she call them Harry and Ginny).

"Greenie!" James exclaimed, taking in the sight of her. She had been in such a rush that instead of searching through her closet for her winter jacket, she'd decided that her traveling cloak would have to do. "What are you doing here? Is Albus expecting you? He didn't say anything…"

"I… I…" Amelia stuttered, her teeth chattering. Sure, she'd only had to walk for about 20 minutes to reach their house from the town square, but it was _so_ cold.

James looked at her again. "Is something wrong?"

James didn't even wait for an answer. He picked up her stuff and put it in the hallway, then took her arm gently and led her into the nice, warm house. He seemed to understand that she didn't want to be around his family, so he led her to the dining room where they both knew that nobody ate unless it was a special occasion. He sat her down at the table and disappeared into the kitchen.

He came back with a steaming mug of hot chocolate and a blanket.

"Do you want me to go get Al?" James asked.

Amelia hesitated, then shook her head.

James let out a deep breath. "Okay," he said, and he sat down at the table. "Do you… want to talk?"

Amelia didn't respond.

"Don't think I'm a stalker or anything, but I thought you said on the train that you weren't coming to visit your grandmother this holiday," James said after she showed no sign of talking.

Amelia took a sip of hot chocolate and said, "I didn't."

"Then how did you get here? You can't Apparate yet, can you?" James asked.

James was seventeen now, could legally do magic outside of school, and had already learned to Apparate (though he'd have to wait a few more months to take the test so he wasn't actually allowed to do it), something which made him more cocky than usually. Amelia, however, was only fourteen, soon to be fifteen.

"No. I took the Knight Bus."

"_You took the Knight Bus?_" James repeated.

"I was a bit desperate… It was between the Knight Bus and flying here on my broomstick," Amelia admitted.

James sat there for a moment thinking about this. "Why?"

Amelia took a deep breath. "I got into a fight with my mom."

"And it was so bad that you had to run away?" James asked.

She moaned.

"I'm sorry. Do you want to wait for a little while before you talk about it? We can talk about it tomorrow instead? You could probably use some rest. The Knight Bus is _crazy_," he rambled.

"No, I want to talk about it now."

They both waited for a moment.

"My sister's going to be a lawyer. Like, a Muggle lawyer," Amelia finally said.

"I see." But he really didn't.

"She's almost done with law school. She got into a really good law school too. And my mom wanted to be a lawyer when she was younger. But she didn't have the money, and all that stuff. So my mom is _really _proud of my sister and all."

James was quiet.

Amelia felt the teardrops that had been threatening to spill well up in her eyes.

"So, we're sitting there, eating dinner pleasantly, and Kayla turns to me and says, 'Lia, what do you want to do?' And so, you know, I thought I'd be _honest_," Amelia said. Now she was crying flat out while James stared at her a bit helplessly. "So I told her that what I want to be is a Healer. And then we went through the whole discussion of what a Healer was and my mom got really angry and said there was no way in hell that I was going to be a Healer.

"I told her that she wasn't the boss of me. And she said that she _was_, because she was my mom, and that she had to approve of what I wanted to do, otherwise she wasn't going to pay for it. I said I would find another way to pay for it, and she said, that was fine with her! She didn't want to pay for me anyway. I was such a little _freak_."

James winced.

"I just…" Amelia's voice cracked and dropped to a whisper as she wiped the tears from her face. "I just don't know what to do anymore! I'm a freak in the Muggle world. I'm a freak in the Wizarding world. I'm not wanted _anywhere_."

James frowned. "Amelia, you are not a freak." He grabbed his wand from his pocket and waved it, producing a tissue.

Amelia started laughing.

James looked at her, alarmed. A second ago, she'd been sobbing. Now she was laughing harder than he'd ever seen. "What?"

"There's a box of tissues _right there_, you idiot. You could have just stood up and gotten the whole box. But, _no,_ you had to use magic to do it!" she laughed. She took the tissue from him and blew her nose.

He smiled sheepishly. "Oops."

She laughed again.

"Like I was saying…" James said, rolling his eyes. "You aren't a freak at all. People – well, the decent people anyway – aren't like that anymore. They don't care about blood status. Look, Fred – my cousin Fred – he's a pureblood, but he doesn't care about any of that stuff. Scorpius is a pureblood, but he doesn't care either! You're not a freak."

"But my mom…"

"But your mom's an idiot. Sorry, but, seriously. If I didn't know it would upset you, I would go give her a piece of my mind right now." James ran a hand over his wand. "_You_ probably should go back though."

Amelia's eyes widened and she threw the blanket off of her shoulders. "What? No! I can't go back now. She'll kill me, she'll be so mad at me!"

"It's never going to get better unless you talk it through."

"Potter, that is such a load of crap."

"Alright, you don't have to go back tonight. But you aren't spending the entire Christmas break at my house, you hear?"

Amelia shrugged. She'd figure out a way to convince him to let her stay at some point in the next few days. Albus would be on her side. She was sure.

"Amelia… why are you telling me this instead of Albus?"

Amelia blinked at him a few times. It was a pretty good question… "I knew I could trust you," she finally said, repeating his words.

He looked at her for a moment. "Alright. Let's go tell my parents you're here."

Amelia groaned. "Fine."

"Don't worry, they don't bite," James laughed.

"Siriusly?" she asked with a smile, nudging him.

He laughed again. "Siriusly."

* * *

><p>Amelia had her coat on and was sitting by the door.<p>

_Where's Albus? He's never been late before._

Finally, there was a knock at the door and she jumped up. She stuffed her wand into her pocket – _oops. What was I thinking, leaving it there? What if Grandmother saw it?_

But when she opened the door, she found that it wasn't the Potter she'd been expecting. "Potter!" she exclaimed, looking at James. "What are you doing here?"

James smiled amusedly at her. "Really, Greenie? It's been six months and all I get is a 'Potter, what are you doing here'?"

It felt like it had been so long since she'd seen James. It had been since his last day of Hogwarts in June. Throughout his last year of Hogwarts, they'd become closer and they'd actually talked from time to time after both having admitted something so personal, but they weren't close enough that they'd kept in contact. Now it was Christmas holidays and she and Albus had been planning on going to get a cup of coffee in town.

James opened up his arms and Amelia walked up to him and gave him a hug. When he let her go she said, "No, but really. When I said, 'I'll see you on Thursday, Potter,' I was talking to your brother."

"Are you saying you like Albus better than me?" James asked, pretending to look hurt.

Amelia raised her eyebrows.

"He's sick," James replied, laughing.

"Oh. Is it bad?"

James shook his head. "Nah, but Mum won't let him out of the house. So, she asked Lily to come tell you, but Lily was busy. And that meant that it was either me or Dad coming. I thought you'd prefer me."

Amelia laughed. "Well…"

"Oh, I get it. You like him better because he's the Chosen One! Too. Bloody. Bad. He's at work. So you can't hang out with him. You're stuck with me," James said.

Amelia rolled her eyes. "Fine. Let's go."

The pair trudged through the snow towards town. "So," Amelia started, "How's Quidditch training going?"

James waved a hand. "I'm sure Al has told you all about it."

Amelia shrugged.

James looked at her with a look of disbelief, but he said anyway, "It's going pretty well. Next season you'll be hearing all about the new star Chaser, James Potter."

Amelia laughed. "You better invite me to your first game."

"Hey, you like my brother _and_ my dad better than me. I don't know if I can forgive you for that," James replied.

Amelia pouted. "Please?"

James shook his head.

"Pretty please?"

Still no.

"Pwetty, pwetty pwease?" Amelia begged. "I've always wanted to go to a Quidditch game other than the ones at Hogwarts."

"You've never been to a real Quidditch game?" James asked, shocked.

Amelia shook her head, still pouting.

"Okay, then, I might have to invite you."

Amelia jumped up and down and clapped. "Yay!"

James looked at her seriously, a look that Amelia hadn't often seen, despite his middle name. "So… do you still want to be a Healer?"

"I…" Amelia felt herself blush under the intensity of his gaze and hoped the cold covered it. "Yeah."

Amelia had gone back to her house before Christmas Holidays ended the year before, and then again for Summer Holidays, just like James had promised. But she and her mother still weren't on cordial terms, exactly. Her mother still didn't approve of her plans to be a Healer, but Amelia had decided that she didn't care.

At least Kayla supported her. Kayla, who was now working at a law firm and was engaged!

"Huh," James said, examining her for a few more moments, before he finally cracked a smile. "Well, I want to be there when you treat your first patient."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "Unless you are my first patient, that'd be hard to arrange."

James pondered this for a moment. "I suppose I could intentionally hurt myself so that I get to be your first patient. Only, what if I end up with another Healer? And worse, what if it's some old guy! Being healed is only good when it's a young, pretty girl healing you." James winked at her. "That's why I've never liked Madame Pomfrey much."

Amelia blushed even deeper. Did he just call her pretty? And why was she blushing so much? She _never_ blushed this much!

She was staring at her feet when all of a sudden she felt a cold lump hit her chest.

She looked up and saw James' arm extended towards her.

"James!" Amelia shrieked.

"Snowball fight!" James yelled.

Amelia giggled and scooped up some snow, molded it into a ball, and threw it straight at his chest. Maybe she wasn't as good of a Chaser as he was, but she still had pretty good aim.

"Wait! I have a better idea! Let's go to my house where the Muggles can't see us and we can enchant the snowballs to fly!" James said after a few hits.

"I can't use magic, you idiot!" Amelia hissed, making sure they were no Muggles around.

"Oh, right, you're only fifteen. Well, too bloody bad." And James scooped her up into his arms and ran through the streets, carrying her, while she shrieked and giggled and shook off all the snow on her hat into his jacket so he screamed from the coldness. But even then, he ran on until they reached Potter manor where they had the most intense snowball fight Amelia had ever participated in.

Mr. Potter even came out and enchanted some of the snowballs for her.

When Amelia returned to Hogwarts at the end of the week, she had had her first kiss, her first real boyfriend, and a promise that James Sirius Potter would write to her every other day, no matter how insane Quidditch practices got.

* * *

><p>"So in a few weeks, I'll be starting my internship at St. Mungo's."<p>

"That's amazing. Will you have real patients then?"

"No, I'll just be working with the other nurses doing stuff like bringing food around and changing sheets. Boring stuff. But, after my internship, I'll probably get a real job as a Healer and _then_ I'll have my own patients."

"When will that be?"

"In the fall, probably. That is, _if_ I can get a job."

"Oh, you'll get a job. Which means that I should probably start planning how I'm going to injure myself."

Amelia stopped abruptly and turned to look at James. "What are you talking about?"

James ran his hand through his hair and looked at her. "Well, I told you I was going to be your first patient, didn't I?"

Amelia stared at him for a moment before closing the space between them and kissing him. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you more," he whispered back. He wrapped an arm around her and they continued down the sidewalk.

"Where are we going?"

They were in Godric's Hollow. Amelia's grandmother had passed away, but that didn't stop her from coming back here. Even though James and Albus had both moved out of their parents' house, she came with them almost every time they visited. Ginny and Harry Potter treated her like she was their fifth child (because Teddy most definitely had to be included).

"You'll see," James responded.

And she did see. After walking a few more blocks, they arrived at a house that was very familiar to Amelia.

"You were right, you know," James said softly after studying the remains of the house for a few solemn minutes.

"What was I right about this time?" Amelia asked, hugging him closer to her.

"They would have loved me, wouldn't they? Even if I was crazy, or a rebel, or a total git. They would have loved me because I was their grandson."

"Yes," Amelia agreed. "But you aren't crazy, or a rebel, or a total git, so you wouldn't have had to worry about that anyway."

James smiled. "They would've loved you too."

"What makes you say that?" Amelia asked, a smirk tugging gently at her lips.

"Everybody loves you."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "Sure."

"It's the truth. You make people more… confident. Because you're so confident," James told her. "You make me more confident."

"You were confident before you met me," Amelia pointed out.

James shrugged. "Yeah. But you made me more… happy with myself. And nicer. And more thoughtful."

Amelia didn't respond.

"I don't know what I would do if I didn't have you," James whispered, looking straight into her eyes.

"Me either."

He reached into his pocket, and for a moment, Amelia thought he was going to pull out his wand. But instead, he pulled out a box. "This was my grandmother's," he said, giving it a slight tap. "Her engagement ring."

Amelia, who usually had a response for everything, said simply, "Oh."

"And I want you to have it."

There was silence.

"Wait, no. More than that. I want you to have it. And I want it to be your engagement ring."

Amelia opened her mouth wordlessly.

"Amelia Evelyn Green, will you marry me?"

Amelia was nineteen years old. She was a witch. She was done with Hogwarts and her Gryffindor ties lay at the bottom of her closet. She was almost done with training to be a Healer. Her best friends were Scorpius, Rose, and Albus, and James, of course. Scorpius and Rose were engaged. James' "brother" Teddy, the one who had changed Amelia's life so drastically, had two kids: Remus and Gabrielle. Amelia was going to be a Healer.

These were the important things in Amelia's life.

But the most important thing? She loved James Sirius Potter more than she would ever love anyone. She wore a new ring on her finger. And she was going to marry him.

Siriusly.

**If you've read some of my other fics, you will see that I have contradicted myself a couple times. Yeah. I do that. I tend to create a whole new world for the NextGen every time I start a story about them. Why? Because I don't really know what happened. But this could have happened. Or not.**

**If you liked it, or if you hated it, or if you love Teddy as much as I do, or if you love A Very Potter Musical (listening to the soundtrack...), please, please, PLEASE review. I will love you forever.**

**~writergal24**


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